


Long and Dark (Is the Night)

by lukeskywalkerisgay



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Soft Kylux, very minor don't worry
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-04-09
Updated: 2018-04-09
Packaged: 2019-04-20 12:29:43
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,829
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14260992
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lukeskywalkerisgay/pseuds/lukeskywalkerisgay
Summary: Ren wakes in the night to find Hux gone from the bed, his  General's head full of doubt and self-loathing.





	Long and Dark (Is the Night)

**Author's Note:**

> While I love what some people have managed to do with the dynamic between these two following The Last Jedi, I can't personally pull it off so I'm kinda just ignoring the existence of that film right now. Anyway, enjoy.

He was running through the woods as hands stretched out from the encroaching darkness. They grasped at his ankles and robes as he stumbled under their onslaught, struggling to regain his footing. He urged himself forward frantically, unsure where to go from here. Vague echoes rumbled through the trees, unseen voices mocking him as he ran faster and faster until he tripped, crying out, and watched the  _ dark maw of the ground crack open to meet him... _

Waking was a slow process for Kylo Ren. He rolled over in the bed, attempting to return to sleep, unable to drift off as vague anxiety prickled at the edges of his consciousness. He blinked the sleep from his eyes, and, upon squinting at the chrono on the wall, groaned once he realized just how late into the cycle it was. Not yet having completely abandoned hope of returning to sleep, Kylo reached out blindly, expecting the find Hux next to him. His eyes shot open when only empty sheets greeted him in place of the General. The light spilling from underneath the refresher door told Kylo the likely whereabouts of his bed partner.

Remembering the strange anxiety still floating at the edges of his awareness, Kylo gently settled himself in the back of Hux's mind. Allowing the General's thoughts to wash over him, it became abundantly clear as to why the knight had awoken unexpectedly from strange, twisting dreams.  _ Weak, Useless. Pale and thin as a slip of paper. easily replaced. Wasted opportunity and potential. _ Kylo winced in sympathy for Hux; the man was drowning in doubt and self-loathing, his turmoil accidentally tumbling into the bond between himself and the Knight, sinking into the Kylo’s dreams as he slept in the other room.

Ren rose from the bed, sleep making his limbs clumsy as he stumbled towards the refresher. The door slid open quietly, and upon entering, Kylo was confused to find the General absent from the room. It was then that the bright shock of red hair drew his eyes to the corner of the refresher. Kylo Ren padded closer to find Hux curled in the tub, his knees hugged to his narrow chest, lean arms wrapped tightly around himself. He glanced at Kylo with tired, distant eyes, before ducking his head in embarrassment. 

The knobs of Hux's spine pulled harshly against his skin where he was curled in on himself, drawing Kylo's hands as he skimmed over the fragile bones. Ren watched Hux's eyelashes flutter against his cheeks, mesmerized; under the harsh fluorescent lights of the fresher, they glowed golden.

Kylo was unsure how long the General had been awake, but if the dark circles stamped under his eyes were any indication, he'd been up for quite some time.

Ren seated himself on the floor next to the tub, leaning forward to nose against the soft, fine hairs at the base of the Hux's neck. He sighed, and Kylo felt the bone-deep exhaustion pouring off the man in waves. They sat in silence, pensive and distant even with their close physical proximity. "Come back to me," Kylo mumbled. "Who ever said I left?" Hux answered, though they both knew the playful banter fell short. Ren leaned further into Hux's space, slipping his hands under his bony knees and swiftly lifting him from the tub. The General's lack of protest told Ren just how far inside his own head he was; silently, the man's bony arms came to clutch around Ren's neck. He led them out of the refresher, turning the lights off as the door shut behind them.

They quarters were dark, lit only by the viewport light as the  _ Finalizer _ passed a near-by nebula. Ren gently deposited Hux on the bed, crawling to settle against the headboard behind him. Kylo pulled Hux to his broad chest, his own legs bracketing the other's lithe thighs.

It wasn't often that Hux seemed small or fragile,  _ or so human _ , his mind whispered. When Kylo had first met the General six years ago upon boarding the Finalizer, he'd had strong suspicions that the man might be a sophisticated droid. He was cold, calculating, constantly observing and analyzing, always planning ten steps ahead for any possible obstacle he might encounter. It was only Snoke's strict orders that his apprentice refrain from entering General Hux's mind that kept the knight from confirming his beliefs.

Through years of working alongside (and antagonizing) the General, Kylo Ren gradually watched the ruthless, cold machine behind the majority of the First Order’s success reveal the man underneath. 

Perhaps the first time that Kylo gained a glimpse at the real Hux was the first time he ever saw the man out of uniform. 

It had been early on in the Knight’s days on the  _ Finalizer _ , back when the twisting layout of the ship had still largely been a mystery to the him. Restless and unable to sleep regardless of how late into the sleep cycle it was, Kylo Ren had gone prowling in search of suitable training facilities for him to use, itching to rip apart as many training droids as were available to him with his lightsaber. It just so happened that on that night, the General too found himself sleepless, one of many things that Kylo would come to learn that they shared in common. 

Upon finding the first gym he encountered to be locked, Kylo sent the doors screeching open as the mechanics protested his use of the force. It was only  _ after _ making his rather dramatic entrance and tearing off his helmet in his haste to disrobe, that Kylo Ren noticed the other man in the room. 

There, seated on the floor pale and gleaming with sweat, was General Armitage Hux. While his hair left no doubt as to whether this man was one and the same as the one who Kylo frequently antagonized on the Bridge of the ship, it was still a sharp shock comparing the man before him to the man he worked with.

Hux’s hair had come free of its pommade and hung around his face, longer than it appeared and darker too due to the sweat the man had worked up. More interestingly, however, was the sharp contrast in the General’s physique. Without his greatcoat the General was far more slender than he appeared when in uniform, the man’s shoulders and chest almost delicate in comparison to his own. Kylo was aggravated upon realizing Hux was oddly handsome - beautiful, even. He found his sight inexplicably drawn to the man’s pronounced collar bones, where, nestled in the hollow of his throat, a bead of sweat glistened under the harsh lights.

Tearing his eyes away and raising his head, the Knight was embarrassed to realize that Hux had been appraising him too.

Ren could feel the man’s eyes roaming over him, crawling over the details of his face as Hux saw him without his mask for the first time. Illogically unsettled, Ren promptly grabbed his mask and fled from the room, returning to his own quarters shaken by the startling revelation that Hux was no droid, but indeed a real, breathing man just like himself. 

For weeks following what Kylo subconsciously referred to as _the_ _incident_ , he found himself haunted by the picture of Hux perched on the floor, exposed and utterly human in a way that disturbed him. 

Having been briefly lost in his musings, Ren was brought back to the present when Hux shifted between his legs, tucking himself further into Ren’s hold. Kylo gently let his own mind drift towards Hux’s, picking up the man’s disjointed feedback. 

_ Damn fool, I’ve gone and woken him up at this ungodly hour because of my kriffing histrionics, I can’t even do this right…  _

“Talk to me,” Ren murmured. “It’s nothing,” Hux replied, or at least he tried to before he quickly cut himself off, his voice rough and rasping from disuse. 

Both men knew it wasn’t nothing.

“ _ Armitage _ ,” he shivered as Ren’s deep voice rumbled in his head. Hux sighed, his breathing strange and hitching.

“I’m sorry to have woken you, love. It’s really not important. Besides, we both need to wake early tomorrow maybe we should -” 

_ “Hush.” _

Kylo interrupted him before he could finish, ignoring the General’s flash of discomfort upon realizing that Kylo didn’t intent to act as if nothing was amiss. 

“You are not useless, or weak. You’ve killed any man who ever stood in your way or tried to degrade you, and you are an invaluable asset to the First Order.” 

_ And to me. _

The later sentiment was unspoken, but Hux heard it clear as day and, at that, he closed his eyes and sighed again. 

“I’m not sure Snoke would agree - maker knows the Commandment wouldn’t, let alone the rest of high counsel.” 

Ren snarled. “What a dead man thinks, along with the rest of those slimy bureaucrats think of you is of no consequence.” He paused, softening his voice before resuming once again. “You are irreplaceable to the Order, but more importantly, you  _ are irreplaceable to me.”  _

Ren held him fiercely, his arms all but crushing the other man to his chest as Hux trembled ever so slightly. 

“And you know just as well as I, that I would and _ will _ destroy anyone foolish enough to not see your worth.” 

They sat in silence for a time, content simply to hold and bask in each other. 

Finally, Hux responded. _“_ Thank you _,_ ” he whispered.

He turned to face Ren, bringing his hands to cup his jaw as he studied Kylo’s eyes. Ren could still catch sharp fragments of doubt from his General’s feedback, but he was soothed by the soft flare of affection from Hux as they continued to study each other's eyes. 

Armitage spoke, his voice soft and lilting. “What have I ever done to deserve you?” Ren brought the hand carefully mapping the cartography of his face to his mouth, kissing Hux’s knuckles before nipping at the pads of his fingers. “Something terrible, surely.” He drawled.

Hux laughed quietly. “Foul Beast.” Ren grinned. “Your foul beast.” Soft silence stretched between them for long seconds.

“Indeed.” 

And he was terribly beautiful in that moment, Ren thought to himself. Even half dead from exhaustion, the General was still glorious; his eyes sharp, hair glowing like fire in the light of the stars. The sharp point of Hux’s ankle ground against his own calf where the man had turned in his lap to face him. “Hux, Armitage,” he paused, unsure why he had spoken. He was promptly saved from further continuing his statement when the other man leaned forward to bring their mouths together, and they traded soft kisses as time stretched slow between them.

Ren shifted to lie down on the bed, tired; Hux’s lithe body was a comforting weight on his chest. Kylo buried his face in Hux’s hair, pressing a firm kiss to the crown of his head before allowing sleep to take them both. 

**Author's Note:**

> also this is high key unbeta-d so please let me know about any errors you find.


End file.
